A tail I'm working on. I've got it taped up to make a pattern of; it's made out of half a pool noodle (I'm making a raptor tail out of the other half), foam, and LOTS of hot glue. The noodle was moderately easy to get to hold this shape; I cut wedges out of it to shape it, and used scissors and a drywall knife with liberal abandon.

I'm going to skin this in fleece and put fur on the tip, and then I'm going to drybrush some stripes into the top of it.